ALBINO ALLIGATOR (49)

Directed by: Kevin Spacey

Starring: Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, Gary Sinise, Joe Mantegna, Viggo Mortensen

The Pitch: A trio of small-time crooks hole up in a bar, taking hostages as the cops - mistaking them for bigger fish - surround the place.

Theo Sez: A good film for video - faint praise but sincerely-meant, as far as it goes. A vaguely theatrical exercise, mostly confined to a single set (cross-cutting occasionally, and rather pointlessly, to the cops outside), it's surprisingly good-looking (crisp lighting, glossy colours) and, despite itself, really rather engrossing - once you realise the whole film's going to be about these few people trying to make it through the night without killing each other, a built-in dramatic curve more or less takes over. Alas the script is weak, not really developing properly - the identity of Mortensen's mysterious stranger, for example, which really adds spice to the situation, is divulged to us just a couple of scenes before it's revealed to the characters, minimising its effect - and, though Spacey cants his images and takes the camera through 360-degree pans, he can't quite manage the more subtle trick of giving the film geographical coherence (we're not always sure how big the bar is, or where everybody is in relation to the others). Lively small-screen fare with a strong cast, notable mainly as the official Umpteenth Movie to be stolen by M. Emmet Walsh - at his slyest and worldliest as a shifty bartender.